Birthday Wishes
by Demograph
Summary: Al never celebrated his birthday. One Shot


**NC Ace: **My first one shot ever. I'm sure many has noticed this, but Al just doesn't celebrate his birthday. Some may consider some parts being "AlxWin" But, really. That's just the connection they've had as childhood friends. I'm not sure about the time plot, so I just punched it in as Al's 14 birthday. Though I'm not sure Maes is alive 'till then.

**Dedicated to: **_Winry the Alchemist_ - For holding me at gunpoint and threatening to throw wrenches at me.

Quote: _"holds you at gun point and threatens to throw wrenches UPDATE DANG YOU!"_

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The giant suit of armor sat down on the stairs leading to the military's building. It was the same day in and day out. The colonel would go and say some smart ass comment of Ed being short, and then the Fullmetal Alchemist would cause quite a commotion. Why did Ed let it get to him? He was short. Maybe it was because he really didn't drink milk.

Why did the sky always shed tears whenever Al felt down in the dumps? Always the bad happened to the Elrics. Maybe it was Ed's uncanny ability to get in trouble. Or maybe they were just cursed. Hell, maybe whoever's up there just doesn't like people who meddle with what they created.

Alphonse let out a hefty sigh that echoed throughout the armor. He remembered the day he had told his brother that he didn't want to celebrate his birthday. Today being his 14th.

_In the past..._

Al watched as his older brother engulfing more food than a normal person would eat. How he longed for that feeling where you stuffed your mouth full, then were too full to get up later on. The satisfaction of getting rid of an empty stomach. His brother sure portrayed that well. Getting food poisoning at one point of time.

"Brother?"

Edward swallowed the food in his mouth before replying, "Yeah?"

"I don't want to celebrate my birthday anymore."

"What?"

"I mean...With this body...What really is the point in celebrating? I can't blow out the candles...or eat the cake... I feel bad in celebrating a birthday that doesn't belong to this body. It's like I wasn't even born." Al said, looking down.

Edward finally put down his fork and knife, his golden eyes holding a forlorn look. "But Al...you do have a birthday...And the greatest person we know brought you into this life...our mom..."

"I know that! I just...I just feel bad that I've betrayed Mom's accomplishment by losing my body..."

"...Fine Al. You know I won't stop you."

_Back in the present..._

Alphonse stared down at the hands that didn't belong to him, dwelling on the thoughts that engulfed his mind.

"Al?" A feminine voice said behind him, one he had known since he was young. The rain stopped falling on him, yet continued to fall around him. He turned to see Winry, holding an umbrella above his helmet. "You should come in before the rain gets worse." She smiled a smile that was only reserved for the Elric brothers. Winry had come into town to do Ed's regular Auto-mail maintenance check.

Al nodded a yes as a reply, standing up.

Al opened the door to the Colonel's office to find Lieutenants Hawkeye, Hughes, Breda, Havoc, Ross, Major Armstrong, Sergeants Fury and Brosh, Warrant Officer Falman, Colonel Mustang, and of course, Ed, in a backround of party favors, all either saying "Surprise!" In a monotone, optomistic, or bored tone.

"What...what is this?" A surprised Al muttered, awed by how they were able to fit that many people in the room.

"Stop playing around Al. It's your birthday 'member?" Ed chuckled.

_For instance, even if today is painful_

_And yesterday's wounds remain_

_I want to believe I can free my heart and go on._

Although he couldn't eat, he found pleasure in the small food fight that ensued between Ed, Breda, Fury, Havoc, Falman, and Brosh. It was even funnier when Hawkeye stopped the food fight by holding all five men and one boy in gunpoint. The cake was destroyed, but everyone who could eat, were able to at least taste it. Although he wasn't looking forward to cleaning the frosting off the armor, Al had also thrown one or two chunks of confectionary sweets and someone.

_I cannot be reborn_

_But I can change as I go on_

_So let's stay together always._

Lieutenant Hughes took up much of his time scurrying around to show everyone the new pictures he had shown them already. How he took pride in his own family, which Al sometimes envied. Ed was the greatest brother he could have, but he still had his bad sides. Colonel Mustang finally reached his breaking point, threatening to burn the pictures to ashes if Maes didn't stop talking about his 'Lovely Elycia'. Besides Hughes who took pride in his family, Major Armstrong took pride in his muscles, taking every chance to get rid of his shirt and show off those enormous abs of his.

_For instance, even if today is painful_

_Someday it will become a warm memory_

_If you leave everything up to your heart._

There was many a time when Edward ended up with a good swelling on his head, thanks to the dense, heavy metal of Winry's wrench. The first time, it was for throwing cake at her new jacket, the second was for chipping his auto-mail, the third was for chipping his auto-mail, again...in fact, besides soiling her jacket, all the other 17 times she hit him with her wrench was for chipping his auto-mail. It was finally Lieutenant Ross who was able to stop Winry from hitting poor Ed an 18th time.

_I understand the meaning of our living here_

_It is the joy of having been born_

_Let's stay together always._

If there were a god out there, and if Al had believed in him, he would have thanked him greatly for the day he had today and the thoughtful friends he had. Even if he didn't want to celebrate his birthday, the others all had known that that was quite a thing for sweet and innocent Alphonse. With this group, nothing was predictable, and so, Al finally helped clean up, looking forward to the next day.

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**NC Ace**: Notice I mentioned everyone's names at least once after naming them. The song is the translated version of "For Fruits Basket". Although this was meant for a completely different anime, it suited the situation in the fanfiction, so very well.


End file.
